A representative for North Carolina Native Roberta Flack has announced that the legendary musician has ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and can no longer sing.
Flack’s manager Suzanne Koga said in a release Monday that the progressive disease “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak" but will not “silence this icon.”
The announcement of the diagnosis comes ahead of the premiere of “Roberta,” a feature-length documentary debuting Thursday at the DOC-NYC film festival.
The release says that the singer plans to stay active in her musical and creative pursuits.
Flack was born in Black Mountain, near Asheville - in 1937.